Helping Runners Stay on Right Track
Adidas is betting that runners of all shapes, sizes, and speeds will benefit from having a coach that fits in the pocket of their running shorts.
"If you tell it your goal is to fit into the jeans you wore two years ago within six months, this product will help you get there," said Brian Gillespie, head of strategic design for Molecular Inc.
The Watertown company has been instrumental in helping the athletic apparel and gear company roll out the website component of its new miCoach system, a cellphone made for runners in conjunction with the electronics maker Samsung. Released this year in the United Kingdom and Germany, it will be available in Spain and France within six months.
Next year, Adidas will launch miCoach in the United States.
The product is billed as "more than a phone, MP3 player or a website" and is designed to help runners reach their goals - whether that means running a 5K for the first time or finishing the Boston Marathon in under three hours.
MiCoach aims to leapfrog competing products, including a joint offering from Apple Inc. and Nike Inc. that transforms an iPod into a pedometer and running journal.
With training plans developed by Athlete's Performance - the company that helped prepare Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez in the off-season - miCoach gauges a user's initial fitness level after a one-mile run. The phone feature transmits the data to the website. In subsequent training runs, a voice built into the MP3 player gives the user instructions to help meet the session's goals.
Molecular's role in the Adidas product, as well as in similar campaigns for Nikon Corp. and other companies, illustrates how companies are rethinking the way they brand themselves on the Internet. Researchers now know that consumers won't go to a corporate website to learn more about a company, so it's up to firms like Molecular to assist them in creating online "experiences" that will familiarize potential customers with particular brands.
"What we found is that clients who came to us were spending millions of dollars for online marketing and had no idea whether or not it was working," said Howard Kogan, Molecular's president. "Building a good website isn't enough anymore. Now companies have to ask who their customers are and how they're interacting with the company's brand."
Molecular was formed 14 years ago as an Internet consulting firm to help companies develop brands on the Web and adapt to the ever-shifting norms of online commerce.
MiCoach - a consumer electronics device with a Web component that is central to its use - is a prime example of how Molecular helps clients increase online brand awareness. A similar campaign for Nikon is credited with helping the company, traditionally the choice of professional photographers, target amateur photographers.
"For Nikon, the new consumers don't really know the difference between the different cameras, and they don't really care," Kogan said. "What they care about is what the camera allows them do, and the website is set up to show them the pictures they'll be able to take."
Ron Rogowski, an analyst with Forrester Research of Cambridge, said such strategies are a way for companies to make their brands more relevant. Rogowski said the trend is relatively new and, so far, it has been difficult to quantify the return on investment.
"It creates a passion for the sport, but guess what? You need clothes," Rogowski said. "Runners burn through shoes, so for a company like Adidas, it's also a covert sales tactic."
For Adidas, it takes its brand beyond selling shoes and sports apparel. After a run or training session, users can log onto the miCoach website to review their data - including distance, pace, heart rate, and other information - and track their progress.
Regardless of the product, Rogowski said, the ultimate beneficiary will be consumers. Companies, he said, have generally perfected making products that are usable and desirable; Web branding may make those products more useful.
Rogowski said Forrester is trying to develop ways to measure the impact of branding campaigns, something that has proven difficult. Still, he said, more companies will embrace similar methods.
"It's an interesting phenomenon," Rogowski said. Companies are "trying to do more than just say 'Here is our website.' They're trying to figure out what you need."